Montrose, Colorado and old Silverjack Mountain seem so very far away now. It's been nearly 8 months since we left. Sometimes when Mike and I are sitting here at home, we think of that place and remember it in our hearts and minds. Last night I saw one of my favorite views of it in a picture that I took during our time there. It always seemed like it stood guard over us, as if it was a sentinel placed there especially for that purpose. I liked it. Perhaps it was my most favorite of all the mountains and regretfully I realize that I never made it to the top to see the view.
Our life here in Texas has proven to be quite interesting. One thing we learned from the "get go" is just how big this state truly is. At over 260,000 square miles, our new state comes in at the #2 spot in ranking by state size. Only dear Alaska has us beat in square miles. There is so much of it that Mike and I have never even seen yet but in the future we hope to get the chance to. Our new home here is right along the border with Oklahoma and all we need to do in order to travel to the Sooner State is to head north a couple of miles and cross over the mighty Red River. It's a journey that we've made countless times, especially as we went back and forth to my old home in Kansas.
Mike and I were asked so many times when we came here last summer just why it was that we had relocated. When we told folks that we had moved from the mountains of southwestern Colorado, the words that we heard most commonly uttered in response were "Why on earth would you do that?" Our answer was always in return, "Well, why not?"
I have called many places my home in this life of mine. For nearly 57 years it was the same small south-central Kansas community. I was happy there and surviving quite well, despite numerous challenges and hardships along the way. When I married Mike in 2013 and was uprooted from my "comfort zone" as I traveled 600 miles to the southwest, I felt like a stranger in a foreign land. It seemed as if it would take forever to feel at home there but little by little it did indeed happen. I found myself feeling at home there as well.
Then came last summer and the second leg of our journey together. We traveled over the mountains and down onto the Great Plains of Texas, a trip of over 800 miles. Out of necessity, we quickly obtained a rental home until we could figure out how everything would work out here for us. Both of us knew that it was a temporary arrangement and we had hopes that sooner or later we would find a home to buy and call our own.
In mid-December we did just that. As is the case most times in my life, we just came across it one day as we were looking around at homes that were for sale. We walked into it and knew right away that it was the one we wanted to call our new home. It's certainly not fancy and we didn't find it under the heading "homes for $100,000 to $200,000" but it doesn't matter. Our new home will be just right for us. Since both of us are feeling a bit too old to move all the stuff around again, we are hoping this will be our last move~a forever home, if you will. God willing, it will surely be just that.
So where is it that you call "home"? I have learned in the past couple of years that home isn't so much an address or post office box. Rather, it is truly where your heart is. I have left my heart in Kansas and Colorado. Now, I am giving it to Texas.
the old view
a new life
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